Grammar Tips for Texting

The world of texting is like the Wild West in some aspects. It’s wide open and almost without rules. The only rule may be there are no rules. After all, lots of texting involves shorthand abbreviations and other shortcuts. So, r u ready for this? Just as you shouldn’t drink and drive, you shouldn’t text and drive, either. But you also should be aware of not looking bad by misspelling common words, or writing sentence fragments, or misusing one word for another. This article will detail grammar tips for texting.

Let’s take common mistakes made with common words that I’ve seen in regular writing—as well as with those folks who have experience with texting. Though texting to your friends and family can be done without much concern for looking bad or uneducated, you’ll have to pick up your game and be more cognizant of what you’re writing when doing business on your smartphone.

Grammar Tips for Texting

These words include: your and you’re, it’s and its, are and our, and too, to, and two! What’s up with that? you may ask. You’d say that you know how to spell each one, so what’s the big deal? Well, these are the most common mistakes I’ve seen with this group of words.

First off, “you’re” is the contraction for “you are,” while “your” is an adjective and the possessive showing ownership. Is that your car? Yes, it is!

Next, “it’s” is the contraction for “it is,” but not the possessive! Lots of well-educated people get this one mixed up because it does look like the possessive case; however, it’s not, “its” is!

“Are” and “our” sound phonetically similar, so when texting, sometimes you may pick the wrong usage. But “are” is the second person singular or plural form of the verb “be.” “Our” shows possession, such as in the sentence: Are you coming over to our house?

Finally, there is “to,” “too,” and “two!” “To” is a preposition and adverb, and is most commonly used correctly by just about everyone; however, “too” is an adverb that means “in excess” or “in addition,” etc. “Two” means more than one…of course! Two pancakes are too much for me to eat right now! I’ve already had bacon and eggs!

Texting is a new freedom we all enjoy in this modern world, but don’t forget to use these words correctly to make yourself “look better,” even without taking a selfie. And remember, never text and drive!

Originally posted 7/16/2015 and happily updated 10/25/2017. Thanks for reading!

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